An Evening with WILCO, you BET it was !!

I was so ready for a nice, long WILCO show, and last night I got it !! WILCO was feeling the love last night...

Set list from the Bushnell Theater in Hartford, Ct
1. Wilco the Song
2. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
3. Ashes of American Flags
4. Bull Black Nova
5. You Are My Face
6. One Wing
7. A Shot in the Arm
8. One by One
9. Either Way
10. Handshake Drugs
11. Deeper Down
12. Impossible Germany
13. California Stars
14. Poor Places
15. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
16. Sky Blue Sky
17. That's Not the Issue
18. You and I
19. Forget the Flowers
20. Sunken Treasure
21. War on War
22. Passenger Side
23. Airline to Heaven
24. Via Chicago
25. Box Full of Letters
26. Always in Love
27. Magazine Called Sunset
28. Jesus, etc.
29. You Never Know
30. Hate It Here
31. Walken
32. Heavy Metal Drummer
33. I'm the Man Who Loves You
34. Thank You Friends
Encore
35. Hoodoo Voodoo
36. I'm a Wheel

The show was about 3 hours long, they played from about 8:05 to 10:50, then came back for the encore. The first section was a mix of rocking and slower numbers. The center portion was acoustic and was billed as the "living room set" accented with shaded lamps and featured a fabulous acoustic version of spiders/kidsmoke. The last section of the show was a return to rock, and rock it did !

Jeff was in a great mood, laughing and joking with audience... He had the audience sing "Happy Birthday" to Nate the drum tech. He even wore a birthday hat/headband in honor of Nate, passing it off to each of the band members for the next five songs....Nels wore it slung around his neck like a bolo, nice touch ! Jeff congratulated the UConn ladies basketball team, a wise and nice touch as Connecticut takes its college basketball very seriously...

It is hard for me to pick favorites, but I loved Magazine Called Sunset,Passenger Side, and Via Chicago. Jeff was in great voice, although I do think that that sound at the venue as a little muddy at first but improved as the night went on. Nels was a little more restrained than other times, but his playing is always expert and heartfelt. The whole band seemed to be having fun and that definitely radiated through the audience. I have seen WILCO 3 times, and this was hands down my favorite show. As a side point, I know that many people are not fond of Sky Blue Sky, but I think that the songs from the album always sound great in person. I have actually listened to Sky Blue Sky more than Wilco(the album).

The audience was very responsive, almost everyone stood for the entire show, swaying and singing along. This was not the case the last time they played Connecticut in New Haven, that was a much more mellow crowd. The only downside of the whole evening for me was that my brother and I were next to a group of very loud talkers, they got so annoying that the man in the row ahead of me had to ask them to please keep it down.... Why pay to see a terrific band like WILCO give a long and fabulous show, then talk all through it ? One of life's curious mysteries, I suppose.